Sticky wicket to test south-west festivities

THE annual Christmas Day backyard cricket match may get off to a late start this year, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting a few morning showers tomorrow.

The sun may break through in the afternoon to spread some festive cheer but forecasts are only for a top of 20 degrees in Warrnambool.

Port Fairy is also expecting a top of 20, with conditions slightly warmer in Colac and Hamilton with a predicted high of 22.

Things are looking less promising in Portland, where the mercury is only tipped to reach 16.

It will be a world away from yesterday’s strange see-sawing weather in Warrnambool. The mercury set off on a blistering rise in the morning. Between 7am and 9.30am the temperature more than doubled in Warrnambool, jumping from 15 degrees to 31.2.

By 9.39am, the temperature had peaked at 32.3 degrees but soon after 10am the wind swung almost 180 degrees, cooling things down to 23 degrees by 11am.

But a steadily warming afternoon sent the thermometer climbing back up to almost 30 degrees again by 3pm.

It was a more consistent and hotter situation in Hamilton, where northerly winds persisted, with the mercury reaching a stifling 38 degrees at 1.40pm.